KENT COUNTY

War of 1812 Blockhouse
Mouth of the Richibucto River , near the Town of Richibucto

During the War of 1812, the coastal areas of the county were exposed to American sea-borne attack. In defence a sea fencible company was formed as part of the Second Battalion Northumberland County Militia and a blockhouse was built at the mouth of the Richibucto River by the local inhabitants. (Note: Kent County was part of Northumberland County until 1828.)

Nurse Dorothy Phinney, RN
Richibucto Protestant Cemetery, Richibucto

Dorothy Phinney was born on 1 November 1875, the daughter of Robert Phinney of Richibucto. She left her home town of Richibucto on 3 July 1895 to take nurse’s training at a hospital in Lowell, Massachusetts. Shortly after completing her training, the Spanish-American War broke out and the American military medical resources were soon overwhelmed by disease related casualties, mainly due to yellow fever and malaria. For the first time in American history, nurses were organized into special quasi-military units. 1,500 nurses were enlisted and sent to various military hospitals. Nurse Phinney volunteered and was assigned to Sternberg Hospital in Camp Thomas, Chickamauga, Georgia. There Miss Phinney contacted malaria and died on 9 August 1898, the first of 22 nurses to died in the conflict. Her body was escorted home by another Richibucto born son, Major William F. Frecker, then a resident of Tampa, Florida. She was buried in the Richibucto Protestant Cemetery and her stone grave marker is emblazoned with both the American and British flags.